Clinical profile and outcome of diabetic foot ulcers

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic endocrine disorder, once prevalent in developed countries has become the leading ‘global epidemic’. WHO estimated that in the year 2000. Roughly 3% of the total world population had Diabetes. In India around 61million of general population affected in 2011 which may rise to 101 million by 2030. The aim of the study was to study the clinical profile and outcome of diabetic foot ulcers. The clinical profile of 120 patients with diabetic foot ulcer was studied.   Methods: Patients with diabetic foot ulcer of both genders with age above 30 years willing to participate were included in the study. All patients were subjected to routine diabetic work up with Doppler study and X-ray foot to rule out bone involvement. Results: The majority of patients with diabetic foot ulcers were of age group 51 to 60 years, male predominant, 84 patients out of 120 isolated included for study, 24 (28.6%) isolates had Klebsiella, 46(54.8%) isolates Pseudomonas, 14 (16.7%) isolates has E.coli. Conclusions: Our study gives important information that diabetic foot ulcer is more common among middle-aged people with male predominance which gives the importance of screening diabetic patients for neuropathy and peripheral vascular disease

An overview of laparoscopic versus open incisional hernia repair

Background: An incisional hernia is perceived as a morbidity following an abdominal wall operation. Risk factors that increase the chances of developing these hernias are wound infection, male sex, obesity, abdominal distension, underlying disease process and occasionally poor surgical closure. The aim of this study was to compare laparoscopic vs open incisional hernia repair with regard to postoperative pain and nausea, operative time, postoperative complications and length of hospital stay. Methods: We conducted retrospective review of consecutive patients with hernia in department of surgery, Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College and Hospital, Redhills, Chennai, Tamil Nadu between September 2022 to February 2023 (6 months). We analyzed 140 patients that met the inclusion criteria and their clinical data. The patients were divided into two groups: open incision hernia repair (OI=70) group and laparoscopic hernia repair (LR=70) group. Results: In our study, the mean operative time of 99.64±13.1 min for the laparoscopic repair group was longer than the mean operative time of 74.64±9.14 min for open repair (p =0.264). Hospital stay was not significantly in the laparoscopic group with a mean of 2.4±0.6 days compared with 2.8±1.4 of the open repair group (p=0.0515). Conclusions: Smaller incisional hernias with a transverse diameter <10 cm can be repaired successfully by a laparoscopic approach if a suitably skilled surgeon is available, although an ugly scar may remain on the anterior abdominal wall. Major defects >10 cm was best repaired by an open operation

Revealing hidden defects through stored energy measurements of radiation damage

With full knowledge of a material’s atomistic structure, it is possible to predict any macroscopic property of interest. In practice, this is hindered by limitations of the chosen characterization techniques. For example, electron microscopy is unable to detect the smallest and most numerous defects in irradiated materials. Instead of spatial characterization, we propose to detect and quantify defects through their excess energy. Differential scanning calorimetry of irradiated Ti measures defect densities five times greater than those determined using transmission electron microscopy. Our experiments also reveal two energetically distinct processes where the established annealing model predicts one. Molecular dynamics simulations discover the defects responsible and inform a new mechanism for the recovery of irradiation-induced defects. The combination of annealing experiments and simulations can reveal defects hidden to other characterization techniques and has the potential to uncover new mechanisms behind the evolution of defects in materials.Peer reviewe

Revealing hidden defects through stored energy measurements of radiation damage

With full knowledge of a material’s atomistic structure, it is possible to predict any macroscopic property of interest. In practice, this is hindered by limitations of the chosen characterization techniques. For example, electron microscopy is unable to detect the smallest and most numerous defects in irradiated materials. Instead of spatial characterization, we propose to detect and quantify defects through their excess energy. Differential scanning calorimetry of irradiated Ti measures defect densities five times greater than those determined using transmission electron microscopy. Our experiments also reveal two energetically distinct processes where the established annealing model predicts one. Molecular dynamics simulations discover the defects responsible and inform a new mechanism for the recovery of irradiation-induced defects. The combination of annealing experiments and simulations can reveal defects hidden to other characterization techniques and has the potential to uncover new mechanisms behind the evolution of defects in materials.Peer reviewe

Potential of carica papaya seed-derived bio-coagulant to remove turbidity from polluted water assessed through experimental and modeling-based study

It is important to develop renewable bio-coagulants to treat turbid water and efficient use of these bio-coagulants requires process optimization to achieve robustness. This study was conducted to optimize the coagulation process using bio-coagulant of deshelled Carica papaya seeds by employing response surface methodology (RSM). This bio-coagulant was extracted by a chemical-free solvent. The experiments were conducted using the Central Composite Design (CCD). Initially, the functional groups and protein content of the bio-coagulant were analyzed. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis showed that the bio-coagulant contained OH, C=O and C-O functional groups, which enabled the protein to become polyelectrolyte. The highest efficiency of the bio-coagulant was obtained at dosage of 196 mg/L, pH 4.0 and initial turbidity of 500 NTU. At the optimum conditions, the bio-coagulant achieved 88% turbidity removal with a corresponding 83% coagulation activity. These findings suggested that the deshelled Carica papaya seeds have potential as a promising bio-coagulant in treating the polluted water

Microbial Enrichment of a Novel Growing Substrate and its Effect on Plant Growth

The quality of torrefied grass fibers (TGF) as a new potting soil ingredient was tested in a greenhouse experiment. TGF was colonized with previously selected microorganisms. Four colonization treatments were compared: (1) no inoculants, (2) the fungus Coniochaeta ligniaria F/TGF15 alone, (3) the fungus followed by inoculation with two selected bacteria, and (4) the fungus with seven selected bacteria. Cultivation-based and DNA-based methods, i.e., PCR-DGGE and BOX-PCR, were applied to assess the bacterial and fungal communities established in the TGF. Although colonization was not performed under sterile conditions, all inoculated strains were recovered from TGF up to 26 days incubation. Stable fungal and bacterial populations of 108 and 109 CFU/g TGF, respectively, were reached. As a side effect of the torrefaction process that aimed at the chemical stabilization of grass fibers, potentially phytotoxic compounds were generated. These phytotoxic compounds were cold-extracted from the fibers and analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Four of 15 target compounds that had previously been found in the extract of TGF were encountered, namely phenol, 2-methoxyphenol, benzopyran-2-one, and tetrahydro-5,6,7,7a-benzofuranone. The concentration of these compounds decreased significantly during incubation. The colonized TGF was mixed with peat (P) in a range of 100%:0%, 50%:50%, 20%:80%, and 0%:100% TGF/P (w/w), respectively, to assess suitability for plant growth. Germination of tomato seeds was assessed three times, i.e., with inoculated TGF that had been incubated for 12, 21, and 26 days. In these tests, 90–100% of the seeds germinated in 50%:50% and 20%:80% TGF/P, whereas on average only 50% of the seeds germinated in pure TGF. Germination was not improved by the microbial inoculants. However, plant fresh weight as well as leaf area of 28-day-old tomato plants were significantly increased in all treatments where C. ligniaria F/TGF15 was inoculated compared to the control treatment without microbial inoculants. Colonization with C. ligniaria also protected the substrate from uncontrolled colonization by other fungi. The excellent colonization of TGF by the selected plant-health promoting bacteria in combination with the fungus C. ligniaria offers the possibility to create disease suppressive substrate, meanwhile replacing 20% to 50% of peat in potting soil by TGF

Genetic changes that increase 5-hydroxymethyl furfural resistance in ethanol-producing Escherichia coli LY180

The ability of a biocatalyst to tolerate furan inhibitors present in hemicellulose hydrolysates is important for the production of renewable chemicals. This study shows EMFR9, a furfural-tolerant mutant of ethanologenic E. coli LY180, has also acquired tolerance to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF). The mechanism of action of 5-HMF and furfural appear similar. Furan tolerance results primarily from lower expression of yqhD and dkgA, two furan reductases with a low Km for NADPH. Furan tolerance was also increased by adding plasmids encoding a NADPH/NADH transhydrogenase (pntAB). Together, these results support the hypothesis that the NADPH-dependent reduction of furans by YqhD and DkgA inhibits growth by competing with biosynthesis for this limiting cofactor